April 26, 2011

You wake up unable to move, barely able to breathe... you feel an oppressive weight on your chest... and you sense some evil presence in the room with you...AND THEN... THE OLD HAG STRIKES!

A reader writes:"About a year and a half ago, I was awoken in the night by a strong, warm breeze. I could not move and could not scream. It lasted about 30 seconds and was gone. I saw nothing. Last week it happened again. I was lying in bed and again was awoken. I felt a very strong force holding me down. I could not sit up. I tried to scream for my daughter and could not get any noise to come out. I tried to hit the wall with my arm and this force would not let me. It again lasted about 30 seconds and was over. I really don't believe in ghosts and didn't see anything at all. I am just really scared and confused."

Have you ever had a similar experience? The above incident is a classic example of what has become known as the "old hag" syndrome and is one of many such letters I receive from readers each month. The victims awake to find that they cannot move, even though they can see, hear, feel and smell. There is sometimes the feeling of a great weight on the chest and the sense that there is a sinister or evil presence in the room. And like the above reader, they are often quite frightened about what is happening to them.

The name of the phenomenon comes from the superstitious belief that a witch - or an old hag - sits or "rides" the chest of the victims, rendering them immobile. Although that explanation isn't taken very seriously nowadays, the perplexing and often very frightening nature of the phenomenon leads many people to believe that there are supernatural forces at work - ghosts or demons.

The experience is so frightening because the victims, although paralyzed, seem to have full use of their senses. In fact, it is often accompanied by strange smells, the sound of approaching footsteps, apparitions of weird shadows or glowing eyes, and the oppressive weight on the chest, making breathing difficult if not impossible. All of the body's senses are telling the victims that something real and unusual is happening to them. The spell is broken and the victims recover often on the point of losing consciousness. Fully awake and well, they sit up, completely baffled by what just happened to them since now the room is entirely normal."

Confronted with such a bizarre and irrational experience, it's no wonder that many victims fear that they have been attacked in their beds by some malevolent spirit, demon or, perhaps, an alien visitor.

The phenomenon occurs to both men and women of various ages and seems to happen to about 15 percent of the population at least once in a lifetime. It can occur while the victim is sleeping during the day or night, and it is a worldwide phenomenon that has been documented since ancient times.

"In the 2nd century, the Greek physician Galen attributed it to indigestion," according to The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits by Rosemary Ellen Guiley. "Some individuals suffer repeated attacks over a limited period of time; others have repeated attacks for years."

In March 2003, I investigated four sinister cases of 'Old Hag Syndrome' across Liverpool. The syndrome has been recognized by psychologists for many years, but no one is sure whether the cause is supernatural or simply the product of a half-awake mind. Victims wake up in bed to find that they cannot move, even though they can see, hear, feel and smell. They often experience the feeling of a great weight on their chest and sense that there is a sinister or evil presence in the room. This presence sometimes manifests itself as an old hag with evil-looking eyes, hence the name of this syndrome. A fortnight ago, a 27-year-old man named Tony woke at his home in Kensington at three in the morning and found himself unable to move a muscle. He panicked, as he struggled to breathe, then he opened his eyes - and saw an old woman with a black shawl leaning over him. She started to cackle, and she started to stroke Tony's face with what felt like bony fingers. The face of the night visitor looked very sinister, and the woman muttered something unintelligible. She leaned forward and began to kiss Tony, and a terrible stench filled his nostrils. He tried desperately to regain the power of movement, and he suddenly screamed out and pushed away the eerie figure. The old hag was nowhere to be seen.

Six days after that report, in the leafy neighborhood of Calderstones, a 45-year-old man living on Booker Avenue named George retired to his bedroom at 10 pm. His wife remained downstairs ironing clothes. She said she'd be coming up to bed in about an hour. However, at around 11 o'clock that night, George was awakened by someone climbing into the bed. He turned to cuddle his wife and found no one there. George thought perhaps he'd been dreaming, and he laid back to relax. As he was about to drop off asleep, George felt something heavy pushing down on his chest. He opened his eyes - and found himself paralysed from head to toe. A dark shape was on top of him.

George felt as if the presence was stealing the life out of him, and that if he didn't fight it he'd die. An unsightly face leaned over his face. It was the face of a very old woman with evil staring eyes. George could see a flickering golden light in those eyes. The woman put her mouth to George's mouth and her breath smelt rancid. The putrid breath seemed to fill his head. George had classed himself as an atheist, but that night he called upon God to save him from the evil hag. The wrinkled face grimaced as if in great pain, and then the eyes turned completely white.

The weight was lifted from George, and the hag had vanished into thin air. George felt movement return to his big toe, then the whole of his leg and the rest of his body in turn. He raised himself up and leaned against the bed's headboard, gasping for breath. His heart pounded. He looked about, and saw the room was empty. George then ran down the stairs to tell his wife about the ghastly experience. She immediately noticed a strong putrescent odour, and sniffed his mouth. George then realised the hag had been no dream. He gargled with a mouthwash and brushed his teeth repeatedly until the horrid vestiges of the hag's kiss had gone.

These are just two of the four cases that have been reported to me. The other two incidents occurred in Aintree and Garston, and both victims gave a carbon copy description of the old hag who terrorised the men in the aforementioned cases. They also mentioned smelling an unpleasant odour during the 'assaults'. Until I know more about the old hag phenomenon I will be unable to offer a theory. In the meantime, I hope you sleep well...and don't have nightmares!

April 23, 2011

"I had a very terrifying experience at my friend's cabin during the fall when I was asked to 'house sit' for him. These events took place between September 21st to September 23rd...For me, being a guy and all, this sounds totally like a cliché or something from a silly teenage ghost story. However, I am not writing this out because I want you to believe it, I am writing it out to share with others who may know of, or heard of this particular incident. It all started when I spent my first night there...His cabin, recently built around 1998, is situated on a hill side just outside of Adams County Lake, near West Union Ohio. The evening was fading fast and I had just gotten off the phone with my friend about his arrangements for me and things he needed me to do while he was on his trip when I heard a fairly small tapping on the door...The nearest neighbor was a mile away down the hill and naturally, I took it to be her, since I was told she visits everyone on a regular basis to get the latest gossip from them. I opened the door but no one was there. "Just a wood bird" I thought, and closed the door again. The knocking was persistent the next three times and each time I opened the door, nothing was there. I even went so far as to leave the door slightly ajar and peak out to see what would come rapping on the door. The knock came, but with out explanation. I wasn't scared then, but definitely curious. The tapping was soon easily ignored when I turned on the television (which has satellite) to watch something on the Discovery Channel. The knocking was quickly forgotten but what happened next, was not.At exactly 10:02pm, the microwave in the kitchen turned itself on and began to heat the air within. I got up, this time worried someone else was in the cabin, and checked on it. The white microwave was on and counting down from 02:10sec. I stopped it, cleared it, and went back to the TV. I drifted off to La-La Land and was rudely awakened by the horrible sound of an air horn (the type they use at football and baseball games to get the attention of the players and audience). When I came to all the way, the whole cabin was pitch black and the sound had stopped. I had left the television on before drifting off along with a small desk lamp. However, it was currently pitch black, and that shocked me.I dragged myself into the bed I was suppose to sleep in, and past the hall clock. It was a nice digital one that gave off a green glow, it read 1:15am. The next day went smoothly and that night, I slept uninterrupted. But it was the third day that really frightened me...It actually started in the afternoon, around 3:12pm exactly. I had just gotten back from running an errand for my friend when that annoying tapping began again on the front door. I made lunch and tried to ignore the annoying tapping until I couldn't take it any more. I opened the door and placed a rock from outside to hold it open. The tapping never happened again for the rest of the afternoon, but shortly after 5 or 6 in the evening, the door slammed shut and the tapping resumed again!It annoyed me so much that I left the cabin in disgust and went to West Union to eat my supper. When I returned, it was slightly after 8 and I noticed the tapping seemed to be taking a break. At around 10:02pm, the microwave decided to turn on and cook air again. :/I turned it off and went back to my TV watching and I wondered if the microwave had an automatic timer or something??It was around 12 midnight or maybe slightly later, when the tapping twisted into a sinister one hour scare-a-thon.First, all the light sources in the house went off at once.Then, the tapping began and it didn't stay at just the door this time, it moved around the entire outside wall! Yeah, I really was scared by then, and I even went so far as to run to the nearest phone and attempt to call a neighbor.Amazingly, I got ahold of someone and I told them someone was outside the cabin I was in, and that they were scaring me to death!The neighbor said he'd be over right away and all he needed was the last name. I told him and he said it'd take close to 30 minutes before he'd be there and he suggested I call the sheriff. I did just that, and all the while, the tappings got loud enough to be heard on the other end of the phone. The tapping changed from just a few at a time, to a constant beat and also it seemed like more then one person was standing outside the cabin banging on every wall they could!I turned on a light and got a knife from the kitchen and waited for something more to happen. I hoped the two people I called would hurry and get there. That is when the microwave turned its self on along with the television and every single light in the house all at the same moment! The tappings changed rhythm again, to three taps per second, then a small pause between them, and then it tapped again. The lights and electronics flashed on and off in the same fashion, and then around 15 to 25 minutes later, headlights appeared from the front room. Finally, my help had arrived!I walked towards the front door and slowly opened it, being afraid someone would knock the crap out of me. The tappings had suddenly stopped, I noticed, but the lights still flickered. The sheriff was the first one to show up and he asked me who I was and what was happening. After a very lengthy explanation of what had occurred, he looked at me in the most unusual way and walked up to the cabin. The lights were flickering on and off every few seconds and it was kind of funny looking. Like a disco party gone bad is the only analogy I can give for how it looked.The neighbor came up the road next, and he got out with a shotgun. The sheriff told the guy there was no need for the gun but the guy didn't let go. He quickly asked me who I was and why I was in my friend's cabin. I gave a fairly short explanation and the sheriff walked into the cabin at about the same time. 3 minutes later, all the lights went dead in the house and again, the annoying noise of an air horn blasted through the woods. The sheriff came back, visibly shaken by the noise, and said I could come back in to town with him if I liked. I did just that, with out even bothering to think about it! I just walked to the cabin, shut the door without locking it, and left!The next day, I called my friend and told him the whole story of what had happened, and he told me he had experienced the tapping often, but nothing else...not even the microwave! Later that evening, he came back and we had to literally knock down the door, because on the other side of it, were a few chairs and his microwave stacked up against it! He moved out on October 15th, and has yet to sell the cabin to anyone else.Interesting side note; he never mentioned the reason for his trip until the day he came back.He was trying to get away from the tapping noises because he thought he was losing it!"

"This story is as told to me by a supervisor where I work. I'll call him Don. I have no doubts as to the credibility of Don's story, because he's definitely a no-nonsense type of guy. So on with the story...Don was working at a boy's shelter during the time that his wife was pregnant with their son. During his work there, the shelter was being remodeled, and many things were being thrown out or given away. One of the things they were getting rid of, was a huge stuffed bear. (Not the kind you can buy in a department store either. This was a genuine, once-alive, stuffed bear!) It stood a good seven feet tall, and it's arms were outstretched over it's head. Well, Don hated to see it get thrown out, so he offered to take it, thinking it would be perfect to use for decorating the nursery. Little did he know, the bear (or the demon inside it) had other plans... Now I realize that some people might have different views, (religious or whatnot) on these kinds of things, but this is what Don seems to think happened...During the span of time that the stuffed bear was at the boys' home, which was probably years, it saw many troubled and hostile teens come and go. Somehow, a bad spirit attached itself to the bear and followed Don home. Soon after the birth of their son, the baby started waking up crying in the middle of the night, like babies tend to do. The only difference here, was that a lot of the time, it would be for seemingly no reason at all. He wouldn't be wet or hungry, he'd just wake up crying. On one such night, Don's wife went to the nursery to check on the baby and try to rock him back to sleep. She sat down in the rocker, which was positioned in the opposite corner as the bear. As she was rocking their son, she happened to glance over at the bear. What she saw next, nearly scared her to death...The huge creature's head turned towards her, as if to "watch" her and her son!She screamed in fear as the thing just "stared" at her. Seconds later, Don came running into the room. "The bear!" she screamed.At that moment, Don turned towards the bear to see it's head move back into it's normal position. His blood turned to ice, but he knew what he had to do. He had to get it away from his family! Don seized the bear and ran to the front door, literally throwing the thing into his front yard, and here's where the story gets even weirder: The minute the bear was tossed out, Don's two dogs (who were the best of friends and never fought at all, and who were also sleeping soundly side by side) went at it, as if to kill each other! He seriously had to pull the dogs apart so they wouldn't fight to the death!Did an evil spirit attach itself to the giant bear? And was it the possessed bear that was scaring the baby at night and caused the docile dogs to freak out? Don wasn't quite sure what had happened, but he DID make sure he burned the thing that night!

Still shaking in fright from the experience, he lit the match and tossed it onto the bear, and as he watched it burn, the flames grew unusually high..."

April 21, 2011

"About eight years ago, I was at the end of my first marriage. This man was very abusive to our children and me....

He had gotten this way our last few months together as a family...the drinking and the beatings were getting out of hand, so I knew I had to leave and save our children from a terrible fate.

I will never forget it...it was on a cold, crisp, Friday night, during the first week of November, and I was counting the days until my children and I went home to my mother's.

Just four more days...

My ex had just arrived home from work, and was preparing to leave on a night out with his friends. That night before he left, he made sure to punch me around a little before his buddy came to pick him up.

Just then, we heard someone honking outside; that was his cue to leave. He told me that if I screwed up in any way by the time he got home, he would make sure that he would beat me down to hell! He said it in such an evil way, that it sent a cold rush down my spine.

All I knew was that he was gone for a few hours and I would have enough time to figure out how I would leave, and to make sure he had not found my secret spot where I hid the money I had been saving up to leave.

I went upstairs to make sure the children were tucked in and asleep, and they were all sound asleep. Walking down the hall, I noticed a window open I had forgotten to close.

As I got closer, I noticed something small move right across the window. It scared me at first, but then I assumed it was just my imagination & I went ahead and shut the window.

As I was walking downstairs, I heard something moving around outside. I stood still for a moment, then shrugged it off and went downstairs to the den.

I started calculating all of the expenses we would have for our journey across Texas, when all of the sudden, I heard what seemed to be an infant baby crying.

It scared the daylights out of me, especially knowing none of my neighbors had newborn children, and because everyone's houses were pretty far apart.

I got up and started lowering some of the blinds that were still up. Just then it occurred to me that maybe it was my ex and his friends playing a joke outside, so I grabbed a flashlight and went outside.

I went around the house, but found nothing or no one. I went inside immediately, because the whole time, it felt like I was being watched by something.

I got inside and locked the door behind me. I looked up at the clock to see that it was close to midnight, so I decided to finish up with my escape plan and then watch some TV.

About 30 minutes later, I finally sat down to watch TV and relax a little before going to bed. Just then, I heard someone ringing the doorbell and banging on the front door. I knew who that was.

As I opened the door, I saw my ex standing there all out of breath and pale. He had some scrapes on his face and hands. All I could see was the cold air coming in and out of his mouth as he tried to catch his breath.

I started to ask him what was wrong. All of a sudden, he looked behind him. He let out this horrific loud cry, then pushed me aside so he could get in to lock the door behind him.

I followed him all around the house, asking him what had happened. He never said one word. He just went upstairs to the master bathroom and sat on the floor, where he continued to shake vigorously with fear.

As he sat there, I continued to examine the cuts and scrapes all over his hands, knees and elbows. He had mud all over his shoes and clothes, and grass stains on his jeans.

I got up and started to get a washcloth when he grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me down until I was sitting right in front of him.

He began by telling me that his friends had left the bar before he did, and so he decided to walk home.

He took a short-cut across the old wooden bridge by Whispering Creek, when all of the sudden, he felt a cold rush of air, and then everything went dead silent.

As he got to the middle of the bridge, he said he heard the cries of a newborn. He said it startled him because there are no homes anywhere near that bridge.

As he looked over the bridge, he said he saw a small white blanket with something moving around in it. That's when heard the baby cry again.

Very quickly, he ran down the hill by the bridge to grab this abandoned baby...

He bent over and picked the baby up, and as he was holding it, he pulled the blanket from its head and said the baby couldn't have been more than a week old.

He said that just then, the baby stopped crying and opened its eyes. This is when my ex started shaking even more.

What he told me after this, will haunt my mind for the rest of my life...

He said that the baby's eyes were pitch black with no white anywhere around them.

Then the baby looked directly at him and said with a deep demonic voice, "Look, daddy, I have teeth!" as it was pointing at these very pointy teeth.

My ex said that he completelyfroze as that thing began to laugh in a very demonic tone... "Muahahahahahaha!!!"

He then dropped it and ran out of that ditch where he proceeded to run home as fast as he could, falling and tripping.

He said that thing followed him home, jumping from tree to tree, laughing at him and calling him a "bad daddy."

As he was standing on the porch banging on our front door, the demon baby was perched in our front tree, holding on to a branch with one hand and putting his finger over his lips saying "Shh."

I told my mother about this when my children and I arrived there. She said that only a man who abuses his children and wife is a man that has the devil in him.

My mother also said that the devil baby my ex had encountered was real, and that it was a symbol of who he himself had become.

My mother continued to tell me that the reason I heard that thing outside, was probably so I would know later that my ex's encounter was all true.

My children and I have not had contact with him since... and none of us seem to mind!"

April 16, 2011

"As a kid, there was a space of about four years that my mom, stepdad, sister and I shared a 3 bedroom, 2 bath double-wide...

This was not in a trailer park, but rather, on an acre of land in North Florida, where we had neighbors, as well as open land around us. In other words, we were in the country, but we were nowhere overly remote.

My mom and stepdad were catering a party, and they entrusted me with my sister for the night. At the time, my sister was around four years old.

My friend that lived across the street, Marlie, was also staying over to keep us company, and we were told that if anything went wrong, to go back to Marlie's house, because her mother was home.

There was no contact number for my mother, which worried her particularly, but I assured her that we would be okay. After all, I was in 7th grade, had always been a responsible girl, and I seriously wanted for Mom to trust me to stay home alone at night whether I was babysitting or not.

Before I go further, I must mention that there had been some paranormal phenomena in this place, but it was minor, like an occasional flash in the corner of one's eye that was not convincing enough to be called "spooky." I never gave these incidents a whole lot of thought, and never mentioned them to Marlie, much less my little sister.

The night began on a fun note. We ate an incredible meal that Mom had left for us, my sister was behaving, and for the most part, playing with our calico kitten, Katie. All of us were in the living room watching television. Then, we heard the noises in my mother's bedroom. She had a creaky bed that made noises when anyone sat on it, and that was the first thing we heard, followed by the slamming open of the sliding closet door.

Being the "brave" one, I went to investigate, and found that there was an impression on the bed that looked as though someone were lying on it, and the closet door was wide open.

Even my little sister knew something was amiss here, because my mother's nickname is "Mrs. Clean" and you can bounce quarters off a bed made by her! Leaving a closet door open is almost a mortal sin! Marlie and I laughingly blamed a ghost, and were about to sit down once more, when we heard yet another noise...

This time, the noise had come from my bedroom.

Anyone that has ever lived in a trailer will know that footsteps and anything dropped, will be heard even in the largest of trailers, and this sounded like someone had taken a large book and thrown it to the floor. It was really LOUD!

By this time, my sister was clutching her cat, (whom I desperately wanted to blame for this stuff) in her arms, looking nervous, and Marlie, like me, kept her cool for the toddler's sake. The three of us went to investigate, and found that my room was undisturbed.

Then, the noises began to come from everywhere!

There was loud banging on the windows, and we ran from window to window hoping to catch whoever it was trying to scare us, because we wanted to think that someone was out there trying to freak us out, even though it would not have explained what happened in my mom's room and mine.

There was nothing, and it was a moonlit night, so anyone that might have been in the yard would have had a hard time hiding, much less banging on more than one window at once, which is what it culminated to.

At this point, Marlie armed herself with a baseball bat, and I took up a butcher knife, and we all camped out in the kitchen to decide what to do...

I thought to make a run for Marlie's mom, but Marlie talked me out of it, thinking that if there were living culprits, they might still be out there, and opening the door would be more dangerous than just staying put. We could not call Marlie's mom because their phone was broken. My sister was in hysterics at this point, and the noises had not stopped.

Calming my sister down enough to make her listen, I told her that I was going to call the police, and not to tell Mom, or she would be afraid to let me babysit ever again.

When the police arrived, they looked all over the property for footprints around the house and found none. We calmly explained what had happened, and Marlie's mom, seeing the commotion, came over, backing up our story about my mother's whereabouts and assuring the police that neither Marlie nor myself were the type to make things up. The police left, and Marlie's mom listened to the story once more.

She was convinced that it was nothing living, but graciously gave her daughter the choice as to whether or not she wanted to stay. Marlie, surprisingly, decided to stay, and we set up a signal, so that if we needed her mom to return, we could just flash the living room lights three times. Things quieted down after that.

Shortly afterward, the three of us camped out in my room with the cat. Marlie and I had a hard time sleeping, but did not want to leave my sister alone while she slept, still cuddled with her tolerant cat.

For hours, we could hear the whisperings of what seemed like a group of people outside the bedroom door, that were just quiet enough to be heard without their words being understood.

We were so relieved when my mom got home, but I never told her what had happened until the next day, when my sister started to talk about it, breaking her promise, as four year olds will do.

To this day, I still don't know what to make of what happened there that night!

Weird things always happened in that trailer, but never to that degree before or since. My sister, now 22, remembers this event as though it happened yesterday, young as she was.

April 15, 2011

"Let me assure you, this story is completely true. I wish it wasn't. My Grandparents owned an older home, approximately 200 years old now. This home had a small apartment within it. My parents had lived in the apartment when they were first married. At 16 years old, my Grandparents allowed me to live there, alone. There was always an uncomfortable feeling about the little apartment, like someone watching you. It was eerie, and everyone who had been there, had sensed it. No one liked to be left alone there, myself included. I would frequently invite my friends to spend the night, just so I wasn't always alone there. My best friend, Barb, was spending the night with me one cold winter evening. So cold in fact, that I had dragged my mattress out to the living room, the warmest room in the apartment.Barb was sleeping on the couch, and I drifted off moments later. I was sound asleep, flat on my back. I felt it before I saw it. Before opening my eyes, I was aware that someone was laying on top of me, and quite heavy at that! For a split second, the moment before opening my eyes, I wondered, "Has Barb lost her marbles?!" Then after a few blinks, I saw it. A woman, completely white from head to toe. I could see her white hair floating about her. She was somehow, ghastly! I can't explain it really, she just was.I was overwhelmed with fear; I had to, needed to, wanted to scream! I opened my mouth to draw in a breath. I felt my lungs empty, like I had fallen on my back and the wind was forced out. I could not scream because she had sucked the life breath from me!Then the weight began to lift, first from my chest then mid-section. I began to gasp for air, staring wide eyed at her face.

Finally, she completely raised herself off of me, and then.... she smiled. I will never get the picture out of my mind -- a most horrid smile, a look of satisfaction.

Then she was gone.As soon as the fear had subsided enough for my breath and my speech to return, I did scream! Barb awoke from her place on the sofa. "What's wrong??" she asked. I told her my story, crying as I spoke. Barb told me I was dreaming, and to forget about it. Well, I tried. 10 years later at 26, it still bothers me. I still can't sleep on my back. One night a few months ago, I was visiting my Mother. After a few glasses of wine, I began my story...the story of how I once thought I saw a ghost. You may recall, at the beginning of the story, I mentioned my parents had been tenants in the same apartment before me.I had got to the part in my story where I first felt it on me. Then my Mother piped up nonchalantly and said, "Oh, she's the one that takes your breath away." My heart sank, or maybe it was in my throat, I don't recall which, but I do know I was pale. Thatmoment was when I knew for sure that it had really happened to me.As it turned out, my mother had the same experience, threetimes while living there! Well, like I said..... I don't sleep on my back anymore!"

April 12, 2011

So I was just watchin' some "Unsolved Mysteries" videos on youtube...(I used to never miss that show!) when I realized that the boy in the video was being tormented by none other than THE HAT MAN SHADOW DUDE!

I tell ya, this guy is EVERY WHERE!!!!

Be sure to watch parts one AND two!

So what do you think?

Maybe there's a reason why some people see him/it and others don't?

I really wanna get to the bottom of this mystery, because this guy has been seen way too much for there not to be something to it!

April 11, 2011

The young man lived in a rental house a few doors from the home where H.W.* grew up in southern Brazil. A few years later, the young man moved out, a husband and wife moved in.

Although these people didn’t, and don’t, know one another, they had something in common – they knew something dark often walked the halls of that house.

“The male was a young lawyer starting out, while the female was an architect/homemaker,” H.W. said. “They both knocked on my mother’s door a bit distraught.”

There were years between the knocks – one in the mid-1990s, the other in early 2000, but the people behind the knocks told the same story.

“They described how a dark shadow wearing a fedora hat would frequently walk by them and disappear through the walls,” H.W. said. “Both residents described the black Shadow figure as being in the shape of an old man.”

This Shadow figure, a paranormal entity called the Hat Man, is usually an ominous figure. People often report feeling the entity is somehow feeding from their fear. However, H.W. doesn’t think this Hat Man was threatening.

“As far as I know, the Hat Man wasn’t a menace to them,” H.W. said. “He would just walk by and go right through the walls, in a silent manner, without ever acknowledging their presence.”

The witnesses came to H.W.’s mother’s door, he feels, because she was the oldest person living on the street. As such, she knew the person who built the house. The man, who died in the late 1950s, often wore a fedora, although that style was common in Brazil at the time.

“It was customary for Brazilians to wear those hats up to mid-’60s, as their style was highly influenced by Hollywood,” H.W. said. “My late father used to wear those hats as any young professional.”

These shadowy, fedora-wearing figures have been reported worldwide, from North America to Europe, South Africa and Australia. Although Hollywood’s images are far-reaching, the presence of this entity on multiple continents has H.W. curious.

“It’s an intriguing story indeed, especially since other sightings of the same type (are) happening all over the world,” H.W. said. “I wouldn’t be sharing this story if it wasn’t because of the fedora hat detail, which immediately called my attention. Why the hat?”

Although H.W.’s mother is now deceased, his family still owns their home and when he visits, he walks past the old house where the Hat Man wanders the halls. The building is now a day care center.

“It’s full of little kids who spend most of the day in there,” H.W. said. “I sometimes feel the urge to ask the teachers or caretakers, without specifics, if they ever see anything unusual in that place. But I feel reluctant, considering the nature of their business and potential legal implications for unproven rumors.”

The last report H.W. heard from that house was from the couple in 2000, but remembers all the witnesses to be sincere.

“My family believed both witnesses for describing the same exactly scenario years apart from each other, also because both had stable backgrounds,” H.W. said. “What are the odds that two different tenants would describe, many years apart, the same peculiar event, without ever knowing each other?”

From "Mike" @ The Psychic Detective Site:"It looks like I'm not crazy after all! I have encountered shadow people whe I was very young, possibly at the age of 9. I contracted the flu and had a very high fever. I went into the kitchen to cool myself off with some cold water and when I turned my head right to face the dining room, I saw around 7 to 11 shadow people moving around the table counter-clockwise, at a fast pace. Their appearance is still clear to me. Tall, thin, no feet or facial features, all black, and to say the least, having long top hats. I was then rushed to the hospital for treatment, then brought back home. Years later, I told my younger brother about my experience, and to my suprise, he had seen the exact same thing when he'd almost died from a fever at the age of 6. I remembered the incident, but had never asked him. The beings were in the living room. This is no joke! Those things are very real and are not up to no good! Terrifying as hell!"
-Mike.

Hunter3339 writes:"When I was seven, maybe even eight years old, I slept in my parents bed, because it was raining out. I saw what appeared to be a tall shadow with a cow boy hat and a long jacket, on the left hand side of their bedroom. I've been doing research on it and they call it/him "The Hat Man." It seems that he comes to children in their room while they are sleeping. Also, around that time, my little brother who was three or four, was in his room whistling a strange tune. Me and my younger and older sister heard him, so we went to see what was going on, cause he didn't know how to whistle. We went to his room and asked him where he learned it, and he said that the "black man" taught him. My father has seen a black shadow his whole life. What does he want? Is he evil? Who might he be?"

Cath @ ghost theory.com writes:"The hat man visited me in my late teens at my parent’s home in Perth, Western Australia. He only visited me once, and I am so very thankful I have never seen him again. He exuded pure evil, and his presence totally scared the crap out of me.I was asleep in my bed and I woke up in the middle of the night. Wide awake. He was standing at the end of my bed staring at me, watching me. He didn’t move or say anything to me, he was just watching me.I was terrified (I thought I had an intruder in my room) and immediately squirmed under my blankets. After about 20 minutes of nothing happening and my heart thumping so hard it was painful I gathered the courage to pull down the covers and switch on the light in one swift movement. He was gone. My bedroom door was closed and I checked everywhere in the room. No sign of him!To describe him, he was much taller than an average man and wearing a coat and top hat. The brim of the hat wasn’t as wide as shown in the pictures on the internet. He was basically a black silhouette from top to toe with no face that I could see, and his silhouette was blacker than the black of night, solid, and very clear (ie: he wasn’t like a fuzzy shadow or transparent like a ghost). I never shared my story with anyone for 15 years and then a few years ago I decided to do a google on him because I have obviously never forgotten the experience. You can imagine how freaked out I was to find so many others had seen the EXACT same thing. I really want to know who he is and why he visits? I’ve had some pretty tragic things happen in my life – wonder if his visit was a warning or sign of some sort? I have never seen him since, nor do I EVER EVER want to!! Absolutely terrifying!"

I'd hoped by part three, to have at least some clue as to what these strange beings might be, but unfortunately, I think now, I'm even more confused! They've been described as ghosts, demons, aliens, time-travelers, etc.

I just have to go with my own feelings here, that just maybe, these beings are some sort of aliens, that are here to observe us...and are trying to disquise themselves with the hat and coat. (And trust me, I know how that sounds) but is it any worse a guess than all the other guesses?

I just don't feel like these beings are ghosts.

I can't really say why I feel that way....I just do.

But in the meantime...until some other explanation comes along...I will continue to investigate.

April 10, 2011

I hope you all slept well last night, and weren't bothered by any...thing.

(Seriously...I do!)

Please don't think that just because I write a blog about the paranormal, that I'm not sympathetic to what some of you may be going through, regarding these shadow "beings"...(for lack of a better word) I really don't know what to call them. But what I do know, is what it's like to be nervous, or downright scared of the dark, when bedtime rolls around every night. You see, though I've never seen a shadow person, or even a ghost, I've heard things that I know were of a paranormal nature. Things that tormented me in bed at night...things that wouldn't let me rest, and frightened me to the point of sleeping so far under the blankets, that I would wake up in the mornings with my hair dripping wet, from sweating all night. I'll talk more about that in my next blog, but for now, I wanna talk about this..."HAT MAN"...

Heidi Hollis is the director and founder of the UFO & paranormal discussion group, UFO2U. Let's take a look at what she has to say about..."IT"...

"It's taken some time for me to finally address a clearer picture of what the thing I've coined to be called "The Hat Man" is, and what he's about. He came at a time when the Shadow People had made themselves known to me. I admit that this occurrence sounded quite a bit different from the Shadow People. But in knowing that the Shadows could take on various forms, even influencing people, including taking on the form of what’s called the Men In Black, I was nearly certain he was merely one of the Shadows. Apparently, I had the right idea, but not fully. Seems this Hat Man is indeed related to the "dark side" as the Shadow People are even with similar agendas, but he can come at precise times in a person's life or not. Shadow People like to choke, scare, absorb fear and cause it. This Hat Man can do and will do these same things, but is mostly known for and seen as an observer who appears and quickly leaves. Sometimes the timing is significant, while other times it can leave you scratching your head about why he came at all. If there is anything of importance I'd like to say about a person seeing this Hat Man, is that it is a worldwide phenomenon. Him showing up doesn't necessarily mean you are about to die,or that someone close to you will."

I hope this gives some comfort to those of you having problems with this A-hole! And another thing I've learned in my research of this being, is that he seems to thrive off of fear. So even though he (IT, whatever!) has been described as "terrifying", if you can somehow be braver than I was as a child, and come out from under the blankets and CONFRONT this bastard...maybe...JUST MAYBE, he would finally GO AWAY!!